Cops telling lies . . .

by Patrick O'Brien

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“But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in
your courts that are just and that lead to peace. Don’t scheme against each
other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the the truth.
I hate all these things, says the Lord.” ~ Zechariah 8:16-17

Police telling lies is the norm according to former San Francisco Police commissioner, Peter Keane. Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Keane says that “police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is the routine way of doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America.”

Kiwi readers will likely respond by saying the lies and evidence tampering so endemic in American police agencies has no relevance to New Zealand because our own police are free of all corruption.

If only that were true . . .

New Zealanders have been suckered into believing we are the least corrupt nation in the world and it’s all smug, self-congratulations on how lucky we are, a delusion kept intact by simply ignoring our whistle-blowers — the USED Group being one notable example, and former undercover agent Peter Williamson’s seminal book, Stoned on Duty, another.

Casuists working for the Government’s spin-machine would have us believe that these revelations about lies and corruption are historical, confined to just a few “bad apples” amongst the rank and file of yesteryear.

If only that were true . . .

Current events give proof that lies and corruption are systemic within the New Zealand police — not only the rank and file — with administrators telling lies to the Courts now judged guilty of “significant deceit”.

Successive Government’s have been complicit in covering up the lies and corruption, with Cabinet authorising significant secret payments to buy the silence of their victims.